#so i'm super looking forward to seeing how it develops actually

[advluv4life]

I love all of this!!

I'm looking forward to next season and getting to see all of them work through these feelings. I'm super excited of Mooncovey but almost more excited to see Yuri work through her emotions about Kitty, Juliana, and just her life in general. She recognized she had to and I'm looking forward to seeing how it works out. If it develops into deeper feelings for Kitty, how her and Juliana balance out their friendship (or if there's still something there)...

Also, just an overall general thank you for pointing out how Kitty's feelings for Min Ho didn't just happen on the plane but came about through their interactions, people confusing that has definitely been a little frustrating lol. I really appreciate how they built up their relationship this season into something mutual & with so much more depth and it feels like, with all the time jumps within episodes, people don't realize how long it actually took to happen.

I need people to understand that Kitty's feelings for Min Ho didn't come out of no where. She was shocked and still locked on her feelings for Yuri on the plane, but she was attracted. When she denied in their first talk since, she said a lot that gave her away. But the most significant thing to reveal she was actually feeling something (and I think to Min Ho too) was when she said they couldn't hurt Dae. Why would you say that if you had no interest in the other person? But even in that it's a gradual thing that progresses and shows up in moments when it's unexpected to them. "She had feelings for Yuri and then all of a sudden she had fallen for Min Ho." I hate to break this to you, but she had feelings for Dae and then all of a sudden she had fallen for Yuri. That's how crushes work; that's how feelings progress. Kitty was about to kiss him on the heist and she was casually seeing Praveena AND she was still having feelings for Yuri. After she was truly starting to move on from Yuri, after their kiss, she felt something with Min Ho and pulled her hands back because of it when they were in the rain. Girly was just in denial (and not wanting to admit) of her feelings. Min Ho, though, knew his feelings and was 100% lying.

[canonicallyanxious]

I have so many thoughts and also questions about the Alan/Wen relationship so I'm just gonna dump it all here in typical incoherent bullet point style:

First of all I just want to say why do I know these gay people who still live with their ex in real life except they're lesbians agsjdhdjdj mlm/wlw solidarity but in being Messy Bitches I fuckin guess

I'm incredibly interested as to why they haven't told people why they're not together anymore, and also why they have to pretend in front of other people that they're together. I mean it seems pretty significant if even Wen's father who he has a very close relationship to doesn't know the full details of their relationship status, i would think if you had a close relationship with your family they'd be among the first to know about a break up. Gong might know they've split up (I think how nonchalant he was about Wen having a one night stand supports this) but still unclear at this point, maybe he just knows they're having some sort of big conflict or are on a break or something. Maybe there's a social dimension to it? I don't feel i know enough of Thai culture and social conventions to make a confident guess here skdjfskjdf but i would be surprised if there wasn't some sort of reason other than "it's too awkward we don't wanna" - and if there is a reason i'm guessing this is why Wen hasn't been forthcoming about the details of his personal life with Jim, though i really can't guess at this point what that reason might be

so my very first reading of the "i don't love you anymore" "that's a shitty excuse" scene when the trailer dropped was that Wen was maybe trying to break up with Alan but Alan for whatever reason wasn't letting him and you know what i still stand by that or at least like the general sentiment of that. i think it could go either way whether that scene is a flashback (to give context to why they're in such a bad situation now) or present day (to push the development of Wen and Alan's relationship forward); personally i lean toward flashback bc of Wen's emotional state in that scene, he seems much more sad and upset than angry and bitter like he does now with Alan, but i guess we'll find out next week!

I don't have anything resembling an intelligent guess as to what Gong was referring to when he said "you should have asked him if he wanted you to do it" or whatever the phrasing was but I'm guessing whatever happened there is at least a part of the reason why their relationship failed and maybe even a part of the reason why Wen is so cold to Alan now. idk it feels potentially quite big to me, like sure it could have been one isolated incident but based on what we've seen of Alan's character (my guy has some control issues #yikes) it strikes me as possibly being more of a pattern rather than one fuck up though at this point who can really say

Speaking of Gong, I find his friendship with Alan interesting. He claims he doesn't want to take sides or get caught up in the middle of their fight, but I think there are pretty clear signs of whose "side" he's taken: for example in the first episode he doesn't open the message when Alan asks where Wen is so that Alan doesn't know he's seen it and even goes so far as to check with Wen first what he should tell Alan (this does not read as particularly neutral behavior to me, personally); when Alan pointed out they're both friends too and if he really was staying neutral he'd tell Alan what was going on too his response was that Wen was talking with someone and that was all he knew even though he knows they had a one night stand, almost like he went with the bare minimum to get Alan off his back; and his comment at the end of his conversation with Alan of "maybe you should do nothing" felt very pointed esp with accompanying expression. What I'm curious about is why Gong still feels the need to keep up any sort of friendly pretense with Alan. Maybe it's a situation where he knows more than he's supposed to (like if Wen confided in Gong but no one is supposed to know they've broken up for whatever reason)? Or maybe there's some other social dimension to it, idk

[ultimate-marysue]

My personal body headcanons for the Batfam

Bruce: He is a tank made of pure muscle. Like many other users have put forward (recommend especially @frownyalfred posts on the matter), that's not an easy feat to pull off. It is a testament to Bruce's willpower and dedication to Batman that he's even able to maintain it. Also, I think he took really good care of his scars in the beginning so they would be as inconspicuous as possible when sleeping around as Brucie. Once he gets older and leans more into the father persona he stops caring as much for anything that's going to be covered by his suits and shirts.

Barbara: I hated the fact that her disability got completely erased, so that's the first difference. If you want to have her be Batgirl again, you should do what Gotham Knights did and make it so there are lasting effects and limitations. I'm sorry, but it feels so cheap to me that they just erased disability rep cause they didn't know how to write a strong disabled woman. Skill issue. Also Barbara is built like a brick in my heart of hearts, she's a rectangle with the density of a neutron star. I also think she has one of the healthiest and normal diets of the Bats, mainly cause the physical requirements of Oracle aren't nearly as demanding.

Dick Grayson: I'm not going to reinvent the wheel here by saying Dick Grayson has the perfect acrobat's body. My headcanon is that he gets it naturally. Not that he can just do whatever you want, sadly with their line of work you need to meet a series of requirements. I mean it in the sense of 1) proportions 2) really high metabolism from constant exercise since he was a child, probably the fastest tied with Cass 3) he doesn't need to work out as much outside patrol as the rest to keep his body mass. Every single robin after him low-key hates him for creating a fighting style that only he can do effortlessly.

Cassandra Cain: like mother like daughter, my girl is thick. None of that waifish, delicate ballerina shit. She's short and she has muscles most humans haven't heard of. Average goon tries to knock this 5 feet nothing girl only to be met by an unmovable object. Also, probably contender for top most scarred bat of all. She just looks like she could fuck your shit up without breaking a sweat and that's probably because she could. Also I think she has short legs, giving her an even lower center of gravity. She's just a brick wall.

Jason Todd: my man is one of the few bitches in this family with a normal, healthy, percentage of body fat. He's built like a strong man instead of a body builder, and the fact that he can be sneaky with all that mass is terrifying. I think for a minute there he wondered what he was doing wrong and why he didn't look as lean as Bruce. Then he figured what Bruce had to do to keep Batman's body in line and Jason said "fuck that, I'm not doing all that". In his villain self destructive era that waist was snatched, but the second he started taking actual care of his body it did what body's do. Considering how he mixes so many fighting techniques I can see him building his fighting style around his needs instead of the other way around.

Steph: she's the curviest of the Batgirls, which is why she favors so much the "indistinct blob" silhouette. As any woman with a boobs size above an B cup will tell you: people get disgusting really quick. I think part of her struggles with Robin was trying to wrangle her developing body into a fighting style designed for a very naturally lean boy. Balancing is harder when you have a large set of bazonkers, they don't tell you this in the comics but it is the truth. She also lacks the super fast metabolism other Bats have, and I can see her trying really hard to fit in the mold only to realize as she grows older that she can do her own thing.

Tim: I think Tim, growing up as society kid and then forcing himself into the Robin role, never learned what eating healthy is. I headcanon him having some sort of ED (I think he would evolve through a few of them as he grew up), not because I like throwing angst at characters (though I do) but because it makes sense to me giving his background and personality. EDs are not only about "looking thin", but also about feeling in control. Also, Tim hanging onto the Robin title reminds me of child actors trying to force their developing body's to stop at a kid size so they can keep playing their character. I could write a whole post about it, but for what's relevant, the ED headcanon doesn't mean Tim is just super thin. I think his body is fluctuates the most out of any of the Bats, depending on where he's at mentally and age wise.

Duke Thomas: my boy is built for parkour. He's got the longest limbs in the family, he's got the reach. He keeps waiting for puberty to hit him like a train and give him Jason/Bruce levels of muscle mass, but he's just too tall. Like, yes, he can bench press Jason, but proportionally he's so much taller than all of them by then he just looks noodly. When he puts on the body armor though he makes Batman look like a Barbie doll. Anytime he's looming about, Jason accuses him of overcompensating. Duke just pretends to not be able to hear him from up above. Also pls DC give him long hair that floats around him in the same way Batman's cape does?? Pls, just give him magic girl hair that defies gravity.

Damian: I've said this before but this poor child grew up being told he'd one day be as huge as his dad but grows up to be Talia 2.0. I think he does inherit Bruce's height, but is distraught to never be hulking mountain of muscle like OG Batman. Little does he know Bruce isn't naturally that big either, and it's only through frankly unhealthy means he maintained that body. Everyone else agrees to never tell Damian about it so he won't even think to try it, and instead focus on reassuring him he's more than strong enough to inherit the title if that's what's bothering him. It ends up playing in his favor, Cass is proof that you don't need to be huge to instill the fear of God into people. And the way he moves, like a panther stalking his prey, is more than enough to make the rogues quake.

[dresshistorynerd]

This is kind of random, but would it have been a struggle for a big busted women to wear fashionable silhouettes in the medieval era? I’ve heard some costume historians discuss that there were forms of bust support, but most of what I’ve seen pre-1500s seems like it would have been a nightmare for any ancestor with a similar bodytype to wear. Am I just from a line of women doomed to horrible back pain? (On the flip side of the situation, I’ve found corsets and stays to be rather comfortable, so that’s not a problem)

As a fellow big boob haver, I have good news for you! There were pretty good Medieval bust supporting garments and I have tested one of them.

With sturdy fabric, tailoring and lacing you can create pretty good bust support. Lacing was popularized first in 12th century in form of bliaut, and in 14th century tailoring became standard for everyday garments. I don't know how well bliaut supported the bust, but since it doesn't fit super snugly, I assume it doesn't distribute the weight of the boobs as well as tailored supporting garments and therefore isn't as supportive. I'm also not actually sure if there was proper bust supporting garments before that, I haven't looked into it. I know Romans bound their breasts with cloth wrapped around the chest, so maybe that technique continued (at least for those who especially needed it) till lacing and tailoring became a thing. For more about how supporting garments developed in Europe through history, I have a post about development of lacing, which coincides pretty well with that history from 12th century forward.

Personally I have experience with Medieval Bathhouse dress, which was used in the Germanic Central-European area roughly in 14th to 16th century. It's called the Bathhouse dress because most depictions of it are from bathhouse settings, but there's depiction also in bed chambers and other contexts, so I think it's pretty safe to assume it was used more generally as an undergarment. It often had separate cups for the boobs (see the only extant garment left of it, the so called "Lengberg Castle Bra"), but not always. Unlike most other undergarments at the time, it was sort of a shift (the lowest layer) and a supporting garment combined into one.

I sewed my own recreation of it (with some alterations because I made it for my everyday use, not as a historical recreation) and did a post about my results, where I go deeper into the history of the garment too. I didn't construct it very well and I did an error in the design of the back, which cause the strain of the shoulder straps to focus too much on very specific spots in the back panel, which eventually made the fabric there break too many times. (There were some other smaller design flaws too, like the waistline is lower than my natural waist so it rose and wrinkled annoyingly.) I did use it daily (except when I washed it) for a fairly long time though and it was super comfortable and helped a lot with back pain (and shoulder pain caused by use of modern bras). I hate that I've had to go back to modern bras because I haven't had the time to remake it yet. (I'll probably make a follow up post once I get around to it, where I go through the issues of the first version and how I addressed them in the next attempt.) Well fitted and shaped bodice which is then laced does surprisingly much even without any additional reinforcements.

I haven't made a Medieval kirtle (though I will some day), but it was the more widely used Medieval supporting garment, which eventually replaced Bathhouse dress in the area where that was used. Kirtle is worn over a shift, but it broadly works similarly. Kirtles could be front, side or back laced depending on the time period and how the Kirtle was constructed. Multiple layers of kirtles could be used and looser overgarments (like houppelande) were often used on top of it. Kirtle was used by everyone, including men, but for those who didn't need bust support, it's purpose was mainly to create the fashionable silhouette. Here's three depictions of kirtles from 15th century. First unlaced, but has lacing on the front, second close up of the side lacing and third shows nicely how both front and side/backlacing shaped the bust.

Morgan Donner is a costumer, who focuses a lot on Medieval costuming and has a big bust, so while I haven't personally tested the supportiveness of kirtle, she certainly has. The kirtle bodice part needs to be patterned to accommodate the breasts by giving it round shapes and the kirtle needs to be a little too small so there's room to lace it to fit well. Lining also helps to reinforce the fabric and make it more firm and supportive. Here's Morgan's pattern from the tutorial in her website and how the kirtle eventually fits for her. (Also look at the handsome boy in his handsome matching outfit.)

She also has a video relating to the same kirtle project, where she explains her method to pattern a kirtle specifically so it's supportive for big bust.

In 16th century more stiffness was added to kirtles, first with very stiff lining and then with boning, but that doesn't necessarily add to the bust support, rather it just allows the kirtle to shape the bust and the body in general more and better support a heavy skirt. Firm fabric secured snugly with lacing is already very good at distributing the weight of the boobs to the whole torso.

In conclusion, at least since 14th century people with our body type were not doomed to eternal back pain and even before that some ways to help with it were probably used.

[thefaiao]

Do you remember what hooked you on the LISA series? It's a decently impactful set of games so I'm curious as to why you've created so many drawings from it

A great question. I don't think I can answer this with absolute precision, but I'll try. I'll begin explaining how exactly I first got into drawing LISA, and we'll work from there to the reason I believe I am still compelled to draw more of it.

I first played and finished LISA at the end of 2016. I was decently active at that point, but hadn't garnered much attention to my drawings. I had made a Hotline Miami post that had gotten decently popular, and a few Yogscast(1)(2)(3) drawings that also did decently well, but overall nothing super noteworthy. Most Yog fans at the time weren't into what I liked mainly, which was Shadow of Israphel.

I was immature at the time, so had a hard time connecting with people in fandoms. Not to mention, I was a Brasilian in a sea of Americans and Europeans. You'd be surprised how hard it was to relate with people in that setting, but I tried here and there.

I felt pretty strongly about the HM post though, since it felt like a great personal achievement. I felt a drawing I had a clear vision for had achieved what I set out to do with it. Seeing how much people liked it, it was pretty magical when you've never had a post "do well".

Anyway, people were hopping out of tumblr and onto twitter, and I did as well. Twitter, despite everything, sort of puts you way closer to other people. Your reply to someone important is very visible and hard to ignore. It was a type of equalizer. There I had gotten to get my drawings actually seen and shared by Austin, the guy who made the LISA games.

Having had my drawings shared and recognized that way had a strong impact on me, and I even got to talk with an artist I really looked up to at the time, Maren, who had also gotten into LISA. She had done art for SBFP and TF2, so it felt surreal to me to be acknowledged by someone like that. Up to that point I really felt like more of a passive observer to everything.

In 2014 I finished high-school, and 2015 I spent the whole year learning how to draw better. I tried so hard that I ended up dissociating, a very scary emotion, that I didn't even know was a thing at the time. It felt like all that time and effort was starting to pay off, and that there was a way forward here.

First I posted sketches, and the passion I had for the game and motivation from the recognition led me to put a lot more effort than usual into my drawings. I ended up making these, which got really popular, it was very validating.

So because of all that I kept drawing. I'll be honest, a lot of the time I just wanted to get even more of the attention of these weird new cool popular friends that were paying attention to me for some reason. I was very lonely at the time. I think I stayed lonely for a long time after too.

But eventually people move on, as is normal with fandoms. I didn't really feel my passion for drawing and LISA die out though. I had started a massive LISA art project at the time, that took me 5 long years, and also was more focused in college, where I did Game Design.

Drawing wise, eventually I branched out to other RPGmaker games, but LISA was very easy to draw. It was sort of a home-base for me. Something I could come back to when I was uncertain.

I think Urasawa put it quite well, with Billy Bat:

Drawing the same characters over and over is extremely rewarding, and a great way to reflect on your progress so far. I suppose it's meditative, but that's not quite the right word. It's very fun and constructive, and people can also keep track of your progress through that. I did the same with OFF characters, a game I had drawn way before all this.

Of course, I had a lot of issues because of how things developed. I related a lot of my self-worth with the validation I received from people online, and I still do, to an extent...

When I started taking the game I'm making, Meanderer, more seriously, and started living alone, posting anything felt awful. I didn't have the energy for bombastic posts, or the time spent developing the way I draw the characters like I did for LISA, that is, with ease and style. It felt very humiliating, but I understand it was a warped view of things.

It was a long and depressing time in my life, but it taught me a few important lessons, and made me sort of re-evaluate how I engage with "online" overall. But I still liked drawing LISA throughout all of this, I almost felt ashamed of it to a certain point.

All of this isn't to say I didn't love the game itself. It wasn't all just context. I really, really love LISA. It drove me to sobbing tears, which I don't think another game has gotten out of me. It's a fantastic game, that really showed what fresh things you could do with the medium. When I played it I'm not sure I fully understood how much I loved games.

I just grew up with the characters of LISA. Maybe not in my adolescence, but definitely in my adulthood, and with my art. These characters help me orient myself, understand my limits. And it's damn fun to get better at drawing them. Even just a character on an empty blank canvas, with only black and white lines. It's the most fun in the whole world.

To finish it off, I have a general philosophy of not republishing drawings. So whenever I want to do a LISA post I have to draw a LISA post. Just keep drawing and drawing. Don't get hung up on one drawing or idolize one thing you did. Keep making things. It doesn't have to make sense. Just keep drawing.

(There was a power outage while writing this and I had to retype this whole damn post by the way. Appreciate it!)

[amerricanartwork]

It's kinda crazy to think that my latest sketchbook — the one I've been working on for around two years now — is finally finished. Even more so since this is technically the first sketchbook I've actually finished all the way through! I've had others in the past, but most of the ones I still have are barely even halfway completed.

I didn't want to stress too much about making something super big and elaborate to finish it off the way some sketchbook artists start and finish their sketchbooks, but at the same time I wanted there to be a sense of closure and satisfaction with the last page. I decided to finish off this sketchbook with a simple, yet nice colored pencil drawing as a way of both leaving off with a fun and relaxing drawing and showing how much I've developed from the quick and messy Feryn pencil scribbles I began this sketchbook with. And looking back on it, I really did grow in a lot of ways as I made this, in my interests as well as the processes I used, knowledge I gained, and even mediums I found enjoyment with.

I'm so glad I managed to finish my first sketchbook, and so thankful to have gotten so much fun art and useful skills from working on it. Now, it's time to see how I'll keep moving forward with my next sketchbook...!

P.S. Here is one of the draft pages I made to figure out the lighting of this piece:

[rivalsforlife]

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Interview Highlight

This is coming a little late - on September 1st, just before the release of the AAI collection, there was an interview on Netlab with Tatsuro Iwamoto (character designer), Kenichi Hashimoto (named in this article as the producer of the AA series overall), and Shunsuke Nishida (producer of the AAIC collection) about the games. It's a long interview with a lot of interesting elements including the reactions to the announcement, a brief mention of the consideration of changing some moments for modern times (example given is the LGBTQ content in the 456 collection - I believe referring to some events in DD, but no specifics), details into the process of upgrading the character minisprites, the staff's favorite characters and cases, why Franziska is 13 in the key art, and other fun details. The part I want to highlight here is what they say about upcoming merch and the future of the ace attorney series.

This small segment of the interview had one part previously translated by nintendoeverything, but there are some little details that I noticed in the full interview that were incorrect so I'm posting this here. But please note that I'm doing this primarily with auto-translate with tiny corrections on the tiny bits of AA-related words in Japanese that I know, which isn't much, so there are likely still inaccuracies in this. Please don't hesitate to correct me if you spot any!

--The " Ace Attorney Series" merchandise has been very popular, including the "Ace Attorney Investigations Lottery" held on Capkuji Online. What do you think about fans purchasing merchandise? Hashimoto : As for merchandise, I have the impression that it sells out across the board for the past few years. The "Ace Attorney" series merchandise is basically sold out on the first day, and it's the same for the "Ace Attorney Investigations" series. This year is the 15th anniversary of the "Ace Attorney Investigations" series, and I've been talking to the store staff about "putting out a lot of Ace Attorney Investigations-related merchandise". There are things that we haven't been able to put out before because it's the 15th anniversary, so this year, the "Ace Attorney Investigations" series is especially hot. There are still some goods that haven't been released, so please look forward to them.

Since there hasn't been much AAI merchandise since around the time of the original release of AAI, I'm super looking forward to seeing what they'll put out. The Capkuji Online lottery they speak of is the one that had the giant tsum of Edgeworth, and I really hope they someday will make that available for general purchase.

--Many fans are hoping that purchasing merchandise will lead to new releases, but is that actually the case? Hashimoto: That's true. The fact that we have such passionate players' support is something that the entire company, including the management, can recognize, even more than just us developers, so it's very important. Of course, the sales of merchandise itself do not cover the development costs of new titles, but it does lead to discussions about how to develop the game in the future if it's that popular, so the fact that people are purchasing merchandise is a very important indicator.

AA merchandise does seem to be doing very well.

--Since this is a work with many overseas fans, we asked overseas users, "What would you like to tell the developers? What would you like them to hear?" Particularly impressive was the feedback from users living in independent language regions, who were pleased with the multilingual support for "Ace Attorney Investigations 1 & 2 Collection," following "Ace Attorney Apollo Justice Trilogy." In the midst of all this, the one thing that has been attracting attention is the future development of the "Ace Attorney Investigations Series." What are your thoughts on this? Hashimoto : We will not stop the "Ace Attorney Investigations Series" content. Of course, we want to develop it in various ways, including other media types. I think there will be something to tell you when it is time to make an announcement, but at the moment I can't say anything.

This part is what was translated in the interview I linked, but it misses a few key distinctions: One is the specification of "Ace Attorney Investigations" over "Ace Attorney". (Or "Gyakuten Kenji" vs "Gyakuten Saiban", if that makes things clearer.) So that makes me think that this isn't referring to an AA7 or Apollo Justice anime, but something specific to the AAI games -- whether that's an anime adaptation, maybe another stage play, or possibly in the future...... aai3.

Another note is what the translated interview calls "mixed media", which comes from "メディアミックス" (literally "media mix"). "Mixed media" in English, to my knowledge, generally refers to a single piece of art which is made up of different forms, which is not what they're talking about here. The Japanese term used here appears to mean more of a "multimedia franchise" - extending the series beyond just games, to other forms that will bring in a wider audience - which makes me think they have something in the works that's not a new game, but something in a different form related to AAI. So I'm curious about what they have planned, whether it would be an adaptation of the existing games or original work with the same characters like my favorite stage play Turnabout Teleportation.

And on the topic of stage plays...

--While there are many die-hard fans of the plays, unfortunately the performance of " Ace Attorney: Turnabout Parallel World " has been postponed. Will we ever get to see lawyer Miles Edgeworth, the perfect idol Franziska von Karma, and the number one host Larry Butz? Also, is there any possibility of a novelization? Iwamoto : (Whispering) Please say it. Please say it more (laughs). Hashimoto : Due to the schedules of the cast, it may be difficult to do it in exactly the same format, but I personally would like to see it. I'm always thinking about how I want to do it and make it happen.

Turnabout Parallel World was a stage play intended for 2020 that got postponed for obvious reasons... and then rescheduled for 2021, where it was postponed again for the same obvious reasons. It hasn't been officially cancelled and we haven't heard anything about it since then, and to my knowledge this is the first acknowledgement of it since then. It does sound like they want to include it in some way.

Novelizations of new AA stories aren't a new concept, but have typically been Japan-only and not gained much traction in the English-speaking fandom.

Finally, Hashimoto's comments to close out the interview:

Hashimoto: As I mentioned at the beginning, I thought it was important to have people play existing content on the current platform, and with the release of "Ace Attorney Investigations 1 & 2 Collection," we're finally ready. I want to deliver it to people who don't know about the "Ace Attorney Series" or haven't touched it, including people in countries with additional languages, as well as in Japan. As I mentioned earlier, we will not stop the "Ace Attorney Series" after that, and it will continue to the 25th and 30th anniversaries. We would like to continue preparing for new developments and expand the series.

The use of "Ace Attorney Series" here doesn't make a distinction between mainline or investigations (just "Gyakuten series"). So while there's definitely something in the works for AAI, there's probably something for mainline as well.

The 25th anniversary is coming up fairly soon in 2026, with the 30th anniversary in 2031. This is not nearly as far away as it feels like it should be. Judging by this interview and similar ones over the last year, it feels more and more likely that we will be getting new ace attorney content in one form or another in the next couple of years at least.

Of note to the Athena fans, the interview also contains this comment from Hashimoto, when talking about favorite characters in AAIC and the series overall:

Throughout the series, I've always liked Athena (Cykes). I've always thought to myself, "I wonder if there's something Athena can do as the main character?" (laughs).

It's not the most serious statement or necessarily a promise, but maybe the tiniest nugget of hope for Athena fans.

Anyways, those are the highlights of the interview from me - again please correct me if there's anything that needs correcting. I highly encourage people to check out the full interview since it has lots of interesting stuff, and hopefully there will be a properly translated version of it out someday!

[laurarolla]

Before the cooperative sportsball mode in Arknights begins, let's look back on a few thoughts from the finale of Act II of the main story, "Absolved Will Be The Seekers." Also, thanks to Wis'adel, I was easily able to clear all four of the hell stages, and I can probably finally go back and clear the previous chapter hell stages and finally get those upgrade tokens I'm missing for the chapter ops.

First, I enjoyed the little moment in the middle where the Followers trio get to clown on those Confessari pricks. Love seeing those fascist bloodsuckers lose. XP

Moving on, the overarching story of why Theresa returned and her goals with the Originium Assimilation were rather interesting, especially in what we seem to have learned about Arknights possible overarching villain, Priestess. It's nice that the citizens of Victoria will no longer be abused and murdered by the Sarkaz now that Theresis and his loyal forces are off to do something else, but getting his hands on the Originium stone that sort of represents the "original sin" of the Teekaz is not a good sign for the future. Beyond that, it's somewhat unclear how much of what Theresa did in the Assimilated Universe was actually her choice. I think it was a great act of mercy and love to finally free the Myriad Souls from the Originium, granting them the freedom to truly die instead of being trapped in the stagnant tomb of Originium. Unfortunately, I think the Originium she handed to Theresis very much falls under Priestess's plans to "continue the experiment." In the end, everything seems to be progressing as she has planned.

A few nice bits about Priestess that we got to see (if we are to believe anything she said to us) include that she's not a member of the same people as the Doctor, and previously spent her time recording sounds of dying worlds. Originium is not only a way for her to show that she deserved to stand alongside Oracle as an equal, but also became a way for her to record the dying breath of each and every world if her experiment succeeds. She seems genuinely motivated out of a love for what she's seen and heard across the universe, but she can't accept the transient nature of life. Whether there's some actual intentional malevolent force she's trying to use Originium to avoid, or just straight up entropy, she's so desperate to cheat death that she sees life as a threat to her efforts. It has left her cold in her interactions with the Doctor, who has fully regained their ability to love life and accept its limited nature while seeking to improve the lives of those they meet on their journey. I theorized that the Doctor may be been manipulated or controlled by Priestess during Babel, and at this point, I'm now sure not only that they were manipulated, but that they can't be manipulated in the same way anymore. Kal'tsit also rejected Priestess, and Amiya figured out how to use the Civilight Eterna to manipulate some aspects of the Assimilated Universe. I'm interested to see how these rejections affect things later in regards to Priestess's intentions.

Looking forward to future encounters with Eblana now that she's kinda the main threat to the current Victorian hierarchy, especially since she got one of the dukes on her side. Overall, though, I think we'll get most of the important immediate follow-up for Victoria when the Siege Alter event comes in about 4 or 5 months.

Wis'adel got her name finally and I'm super happy about that. Her journey from the beginning to now has been great, although I think most of her big character development is basically complete now. It's nice to have a character get their Alter form from an event or something that has significant personal story growth, with Wis'adel and Silence probably being my favorite alter/story intersections so far. Eyja's was also quite nice.

I'm also gonna say that Civilight Eterna (Theresa's Phantom) is herself a product of the Civilight Eterna arts ability I previously theorized/observed. She was largely created through Amiya pulling memories from the past and binding them into a phantom clone that Theresa left as a kind of keepsake. Basically, she's there because both she and Amiya want her to be there, and each used the power of the King of the Sarkaz to manifest her. That's why she has actual memories and arts powers from Theresa, albeit not as strong. I also love that how Amiya created the staff was to reshape Yin Xiao into an arts staff, reforging a sword seeking vengence into a tool of healing. Very simple but very effective.

Oh, and after 300 pulls I got Nearl the Radiant Knight from the shop, and my last free pull today was Mizuki, so now I have all the Ambushers... except Kirara.

[bekaterrier]

It's that time of the week again! Happy Audio Drama Sunday! Still traveling so still listening to a bunch of different podcasts.

Residents of @proserpinapark Ep 37 - Devilish Lovers: A quick episode this week! It's interesting to hear about myths and mythical creatures that are so similar across different cultures. It was also good to get even the tiniest mention of the Park in NJ. Looking forward to everyone coming together at some point!

Give Me Away Episode 5 - My Body Is Your Body & Episode 6 - This Is My Home: Ep 4 ended on a cliffhanger so where do we start with ep 5? A flashback of course! It was actually so interesting hearing what had been going on since the beginning with so many of the people in Red Camp. Then in ep 6, finally getting to hear how Graham interacts with his new companion. The Innovator certainly seems like an interesting person, and I'm sure their dynamic will continue to evolve. All the while, Jamie is in the background sowing chaos!

@camlannpod Episode 6 - The Sheep And The Goats & Episode 7 - Under The Hill: All I'd heard about Camlann was its connection to Arthurian tales, so I was not expecting the shift to Greece. It was so good and interesting though! I don't know why, but I hadn't thought about what other stories would have come alive. It certainly makes you think about which other ones might be out there. As soon as Perry started talking about fairies I knew to expect some trickery! They were so adamant about Dai coming back (even though he was not storied) that it made me wonder... Then some of the hints from the fairies... All leading up to to that big reveal!! Ahh!!

@midnightburgr Welcome to the Horizon Part 6 - Back to the Black: I was giggling and kicking my feet for the first 20 minutes... Just let Verge and Deidre be happy!! It's always fun hearing Verge be a badass though. Poor Deidre, constant emotional whiplash over the course of just a few hours. Her whole world just turned upside down several times over. Aside: The music this episode was fantastic!

@starsfellradio S1 & S2 re-listen: When WTSF was releasing S3 last year, my brain would not cooperate and listen. With the traveling I've been doing recently and the burnout recovery, I've finally been able to get back into it! I, of course, had to re-listen to S1 & S2. It's so good. Ed and Lucy's growth and evolution together, the wild incidents that keep happening, the fantastic music that starts coming in during S2, Michael the archangel getting domesticated... Love it all.

Where The Stars Fell S3 Episodes 20 - 23 & Forgive Me! Crossover - Forgive Where the Stars Fell: The countdown to the rapture has started! The first four episodes of the season cover a lot - Ed learning about new abilities, Lucy finding Joseph's coat of many colours which hides her wings, slime mold comes to life, an unconventional evangelist comes to town, a body swap episode, the Dave Matthews Band incident, a chili cook-off, and a promposal! Gosh I love this town. I also wanted to shout out the crossover with Forgive Me! because it was such a fantastic, fascinating episode. We know Ed has been dealing with a lot since finding out she's the Antichrist, and this was such a great opportunity for her to really voice how's she's feeling about it all, especially the Big Guy.

Case Study: IREC-A59 Episode 5 - Contact *Terms and Conditions May Apply: We have contact! They can finally understand each other! And thanks to that, we're starting to get more info about both sides of this story. 13 other intelligent species; humans have developed warp travel! ; the captain is super protective; the council may not be letting the humans go anytime soon...

@starfallpod Act 1, Scene xiv: Hearing the bits of Mariette the Fourth adapted as Candyette the Fourth was fantastic. I would honestly love to see a full version of either performance! I love Fel and Leona together, but it's nice hearing Leona start to speak up for herself. And now we're off to solve a mystery! Who could have done it, I wonder...

[pluckyredhead]

Did I just read your Super Sons primer from 2020 at 3 am on a Monday morning because I'm having a real normal one? Maybe?! I'm wondering how you feel about how they and their relationship has developed since then. IMO it's... Pretty bleak. 😩

I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT IT. (Also here's the primer for anyone who missed it.)

So I will say that 95% of everything Jon has been in since he got aged up has been hot garbage, but I do think the exception is when Damian is around. But let's take it from the top!

First of all, I don't necessarily think they should de-age him again. Generally speaking I think it's better storytelling to focus on fixing things moving forward, rather than undoing things moving back. Sure, if DC came up with some big cosmic event that reset Jon to 11, I certainly wouldn't complain, but I'd rather see them, uh...do literally anything with Teen Jon that doesn't suck.

But yeah, aging Jon up to begin with still makes me livid because:

I want my baby to have had a childhood.

It's fully character assassination for Lois and Clark. They would NEVER let their 11-year-old go to outer space with a supervillain. Lois would NEVER just abandon him out there, and Clark would NEVER respond with "Well, I'm sure he's fine, wanna have marathon sex?" I honestly have no idea what Bendis or his editor were thinking.

They have not done a single interesting with him since!!!

Putting this behind a cut because it got LONG. Also spoilers for Beast World in there.

I've said this before, but I have to assume that Bendis wanted to age Jon up because he wanted to write a Legion book. But he also in his wisdom decided to bring Kon back into continuity at exactly the same time, which means we have two nearly identical Superboys that DC didn't and still doesn't know what to do with. Kon clearly couldn't have joined the LOSH because he already had a team, but you know what Super teen was available, and not 11, and who has a history with the Legion that goes back almost as long as Clark's? KARA. But I will save that rant for another day.

And honestly, Kara dodged a bullet, because that Legion book was unreadable. Bendis at his most Bendis-y wall of text interrupt-y conversations and no plot. If I give Tom Taylor any credit it's that the second he got his hands on Jon, he torpedoed Jon/Imra as a ship. GOOD.

And when the LOSH book finally went out with a whimper (that JLA/LOSH miniseries! what was that!!!), we entered the Taylor Era. Taylor's quirks are less stylistic and more narrative than Bendis's. You can spot Bendisian dialogue at twenty paces, but a Taylor comic tips its hand when it sets up a really interesting premise or a really high stakes threat and then immediately undercuts it with a little wet fart noise of nothing. To wit:

Jon's starting college! This will be an interesting challenge for him to readjust to normal life after six years in a torture-volcano and an indeterminate amount of time in the future, and also considering he never graduated from sixth grade. I wonder what will - oh no he dropped out after three pages. (He has done NOTHING in his civilian identity since, btw. I guess he's too busy hovering just behind Dick at all times to work on his GED or whatever.)

Jon is going to confront Ultraman! Finally the comics will have to engage with all the trauma he must have - oh no Ultraman's dead.

Jon is trapped in the Injustice Universe! This is a really dangerous universe that might make him question everything he knows about - oh he just lectured everyone and flounced off home.

Beast World is a perfect example. Taylor seems to think that having a hero effortlessly solve a problem makes them look badass, but it's actually the effort that makes them look badass. So like, we spent five months keeping the Kryptonians and other A-class heroes away from the spores because the spores are attracted to power and if a Super got spore'd everyone would be in big trouble...but then in the last issue, they just have Jon fly up to everyone with a spore in them, wait for the spore to jump at him, and catch it? That doesn't make the Titans look smart or Jon look tough. It makes all of them look like idiots because it it was that easy, why didn't they do that in the first place?

On top of that, Taylor doesn't ever really earn relationships. Jon and Jay is the obvious one. Jay has no personality. There's no chemistry between the two characters. Jon might as well be dating a cardboard cutout labeled "Proof of Queerness." (Or "Bernard." Ahem.) But we're supposed to be like, yes, give Tom Taylor a GLAAD award for using queer characters as props, when he's going to turn around and kiss Chuck Dixon's ass on social for being homophobic about Jon? UGH.

Honestly worse for me though is the Jon and Dick relationship. Because Taylor is writing both characters, we're supposed to believe that there's this close mentor-mentee bond there? I don't think they EVER interacted before the Taylor era. (And don't even look at me with that retconned-in scene of Dick finding lost baby Jon. You're telling me that Superman, with his X-ray and telescopic vision, needs to call Bruce and Dick for help finding his own son? Fuck off.)

Anyway it all combines to make basically every Jon appearance for the past three years profoundly unsatisfying. Even the stuff that isn't by Taylor never goes anywhere. Remember when he was jealous of the Super Twins for two panels? And then everyone forgot about it forever? SIGH.

HOWEVER.

However.

If there is one thing that Bendis and Taylor and every other writer got right, it's that Jon is crazy bonkers in love with Damian always and forever. Jon has been written like shit since 2019, but he has also not wavered in his devotion for even one single solitary second.

THE EVIDENCE:

This is the first thing Jon does when he gets back to Earth:

He then tells Damian he's contemplating not joining the Legion because he'll have to leave Damian behind. Damian tells him to go and then come get him if it's cool.

Turns out the Legion is cool. Jon comes and gets Damian. The Legion isn't happy about it and Jon threatens to leave if Damian can't stay, while gazing adoringly at Damian's unconscious body cradled in his arms:

Eventually LOSH is canceled and Jon comes home and starts following Damian around by listening for his heartbeat. LIKE PALS DO!

Then Damian gives him a pep talk!

Then there's this ABSOLUTE CUDDLE:

The way Damian nuzzles into Jon's shoulder! Can you even stand it!

And then there's this:

The climax of Son of Kal-El, btw, is one of the several times Jon is saved by Damian and confides in Damian and turns to Damian for comfort or advice...and Jay is just sort of standing there off to the side. I am fully aware I have ship goggles on but the degree of emotional investment Jon has in these relationships is not the same.

Then they had a special issue teamup:

Then we got Dark Crisis, and I actually love this interaction between them, because they are very different people with very different upbringings and this feels extremely in character to me for how they would both handle the loss of their fathers:

But even when they disagree, they still instantly support each other. Jon comes back with information? Damian makes a plan:

Also, we got the 2022 Pride issue where Jon, Jay, and Damian go to Pride together. I know that story is...contentious...but leave me here with Damian sulking while Jon and Jay kiss, okay?

Then we get Adventures of Superman, which is objectively awful, but Jon does spend his whole time in the Injustice universe thinking about Damian like the seagulls in Finding Nemo saying "Mine? Mine? Mine?"

This whole arc is truly hilarious. Jon finds out that Damian accidentally killed Dick and his response is to a) go find Batman and yell at him for not supporting Damian enough for accidentally killing Dick, and then b) go find Damian to be like "Wow, that must have been really hard for you (accidentally killing Dick)." There's being ride or die for your BFF, and then there's whatever the fuck Jon has going on.

(Meanwhile there's an incredibly uncomfortable scene with him and Injustice Jay where Jay "tests" him by trying to get Jon to cheat on regular Jay. So. That happens.)

And then just this past month we got Nightwing #110, where we learn that Jon is still listening to Damian's heart:

He completely freaks out watching Damian in danger, and immediately intervenes when it looks like Damian is about to kill someone because he knows what matters the most to Damian. Also, this happens:

YOU WIN THIS ONE, TAYLOR.

AND THEN THEY BICKER I LOVE IT WHEN THEY BICKER:

AND THEN DAMIAN LETS HIMSELF BE VULNERABLE BY ASKING JON IF HE HURT ANYONE WHILE HE WAS A KITTY, AND JON GIVES YET ANOTHER SPEECH ABOUT HOW DAMIAN HAS NEVER DONE ANYTHING WRONG EVER, IN HIS LIFE, AND DAMIAN STAGGERS OFF, LEANING ON JON.

This isn't even getting into the Trinity backup stories in Wonder Woman, which, like...Tom King is not valid but Jon and Damian are such an old married couple in them? It's truly incredible?

It took me like 45 minutes to parse Jon's line here as the general 'you" and not specifically Jon saying Damian wasn't straight. But like..."That's for straight people, which has nothing to do with us" is a hell of a thing to say, Jonathan.

I ALSO haven't even talked about DCeased because it's a different universe, but! Jon sitting with Damian while he dies??? MY HEART.

IN CONCLUSION:

Yes, they should never have aged up Jon.

Yes, most of his appearances since have been terrible and bland.

But OH BOY, do he and Damian remain in love.

[thatfoxnamedfinley]

LO, REAPER aka Red Rising thoughts

SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

Lettsss GOoooOOooOOoO

I like how ruthless Darrow is. I was reading a review about the book and one person was like "the MC is too intense and cruel. I can't continue to read the series." Meanwhile I'm sitting here like

Tommy Shelby from Peaky Blinders and Captain Flint from Black Sails are two of my favorite characters ever; if you know then you know. I won't say I like cruelty in characters, but I find the capacity for cruelty to be fascinating in characters we are supposed to be rooting for. Darrow grows to care for some of these people and I actually think he cares for less people than readers think at this point. He knows that to be an effective leader you must be feared AND loved and he almost seems to FAKE his care for most of them. It doesn't stop him from taking steps on his mission. The fact that (DON'T CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG) I believe Darrow will not only be a Peerless Scarred, but an Iron Gold by the end of this story is exciting. He's a great MC. I also like moody, broody characters so LMAO he fits the bill.

Sevro is a baby boi. A feral baby boi, but a baby boi. The fact that he's like this little wild child that runs around in a smelly wolf pelt stabbing people's eyes out and follows Darrow so loyally is endearing. I want to know more about where he comes from.

Especially at the end when Darrow had Sevro cut together the footage of the invasion at the Institute and when he heard Darrow say "bloody damn" Sevro was whistling like "its so crazy, the wind was just so LOUD and it was just HARD to make out your words so I just....DELETED them. 😇" I'm like you CHEEKY LITTLE BOI! He knows exactly what's going on and has respect and love for Darrow despite it. Without him and his Howlers, many of Darrow's plans wouldn't have been able to happen.

I don't like Cassius. Never did. I understand his plight and I'm empathetic in a way because his brother was killed. He sees Darrow as manipulative because they were close so he feels...betrayed I guess? However...didn't he also kill someone in The Passage? And joked about it? So...

I think he's an INTERESTING character, I won't lie. I look forward to his arc, but at the moment I don't like him. Wait til he finds out Darrow is a RED kekekekekekekekkekekeke

Jackal is crazy, don't know too much about him though besides his lineage. I knew he would cut off his own hand, there was no way he WASN'T with the hints here and there throughout the story. I do know this boi is going to be a problem tho.

Roque is interesting, still don't know much about him. I was happy he wasn't dead though. He seems to be valuable on the intelligence front so I wonder if he will come into play when doing tactical planning in the future. I'm on the fence with Tactus because I thought he was going to have to be killed like Titus (I also GASPED when we found out). Even after the whipping incident, I'm wary about him because I could see him being

A.) Loyal as fuck

B.) Betraying snake

So, we'll see. I kiiiiinda like him, but I'm also fully prepared to be disappointed by him XD

Mustang... O, Mustang. I don't think she's been developed super well but I like her only because I was like Darrow and thought once we found out her lineage that she had betrayed them all. When we found out she was the Jackal's twin sister I literally smacked my forehead and was like

But she pulled up with him bound up and I was so shocked that she got a +2 with me from that alone. I look forward to her character development.

Lots of people say this book is one of the weakest which is good news I suppose. At first I wasn't fully on board how great Darrow was at everything but ya know...? I remember feeling the heat of rage before about something much less important as Darrow's loss and I was like ya know what, ok. I get it. I can suspend some disbelief here that maybe his rage (which is something I like, that he has anger issues) CAN fuel him further than others. My man shanked Apollo in the eye while they were grappling mid air. I mean DAMN bro.

I have high expectations and Book 1 was good.

On to Book 2!!

Side note: I wanted him to go be with Lorn au Arcos at the endddddddddd not Nero. EWWWwwwWWwww

Side, side note: I want to see an Iron Rain SOOOO BADDDDDD

Side, side, side note: I have a bad feeling about Karnus, Jackal and Cassius. I really do.

[zzoomacroom]

Ooh I'd love to hear about the farmers market meet-cute!

Thank you for asking, friend!

This will be for the "farmer" prompt for dreamling bingo. I'm considering titling it "You Don't Have to Be Lonely" just to get the farmers only jingle stuck in everyone's heads 😂

This is suggestive but not full-blown smut, so I'm not going to bother with a cut this time. The basic idea:

Hob is a sexy farmer who sells fruits and veggies at the farmer’s market, and Dream is the posh/snooty but also shy customer who comes to his booth every week (loosely parallel canon meetings?). Hob is super flattered and thinks it’s adorable the way Dream always blushes and not-so-subtly checks him out, and he looks forward to seeing him each week at the farmer’s market. It develops into a flirtatious thing—well, mostly Hob flirts and Dream stands there awkwardly staring at him. Hob would just keep going like that and not even consider making a move, but here’s the thing: Dream always buys the most… suggestive vegetables. Hob sells an assortment of veggies but Dream always seems to wind up with eggplants, cucumbers, carrots, summer squash, etc. Hob thinks this is Dream’s way of telling him he’s DTF, but actually Dream just panics every time he sees Hob—he doesn’t go to his booth with like, a shopping list. He’s there to ogle the cute farmer. And his brain shuts down every time Hob smiles and flirts with him, so he just grabs whatever looks most appealing at the moment, and it doesn’t even occur to him how Freudian it looks.

As the weeks go by, Dream starts to loosen up slightly around Hob, and eventually Hob is like “you know, if you’re lonely I’ve got something more satisfying than cucumbers in the back of my pickup truck, wink wink.” And Dream is offended and does the whole “you dare” thing and doesn’t come back to the farmer’s market for several weeks. When he does finally come back, Hob apologizes profusely and says that was way out of order and he’s sorry he got the wrong idea. Dream also apologizes and says Hob didn’t have the wrong idea exactly, Dream just panicked. And he tells Hob that he doesn’t want a one-night stand or a purely sexual relationship, so that’s part of what scared him away. He asks Hob on a proper date and of course Hob accepts, although they do end up fucking in his pickup afterwards.

Ask me about my WIPs

[wallbeatjournal]

If they'd have chosen to just be straight up about it, when in the canon timeline do you think is the most likely place narratively for hirarchie to have gone sexual?

i've said before i think season 2 is already a grooming narrative with a subtextual consummation, but if i'm actually script-doctoring what we've got across the whole series to have hirarchie fuck nasty as a shocking and trashy and high-aesthetic plot development, i'm going to argue that it's more satisfying if we don't have an explicit archie cheating plot at this stage in the story. it works better as an emotional affair. (saying this bc to the characters i think it would be first and foremost about the complication of cheating, not bc that's the biggest problem with hiram/archie.)

imo riverdale should have done it as a mid-seasons escalation in season four. give us a season or two to really sit with how unhinged and obsessed hiram is about archie and then decode it in the worst and most extreme bad taste like the second archie turns 18.

putting my season 4 hirarchie proposal below the cut since it got quite long:

the s4 dodger plot is...extremely uneven and feels a bit cobbled-together on the fly by a writing team grappling with the death of luke perry and the in-universe death of fred andrews, and whether it would be respectful to keep being super weird about hiram in the wake of all that. but there are still useful components in the dodger arc - archie is the oliver twist in the oliver twist riff happening*, a boy "orphaned" without reliably engaged, aware parents who was groomed into criminality and doesn't see a way out without a wealthy benefactor. lean into that!

it can happen as hiram starts working out at archie's gym, mysteriously ill in a dickensian sort of way. riverdale's favorite weird incestuous overtones come into play especially hard if we're considering season four hirarchie, when it can really only be largely about fred for archie and holding on to/deepening a relationship with the sometimes-father-figure he has left. archie has been trying so hard to be a good brick in this monument of fred's legacy but it feels impossible because the only tools that come naturally are violence and sexuality and appealing to benefactors, so why not get a little nihilistic-horny with it.

he's also frankly already being a pretty bad boyfriend to veronica this season, it's stale, they're bickering, they don't have emotional intimacy the way he used to have emotional intimacy with hiram during what he probably still unfortunately remembers as their best days......i just don't think he'd be guilt-ridden about fuck-nastying veronica's dad at this point the way he would have been in season 2 when fred's cheating was the big looming legacy beat to avert and goodboyism seemed like an achievable and real thing archie could prove to others.

this is also i think when indulging in fuck-nasty hirarchie would be least damaging/difficult an option for hiram - he's ill and wants to feel vital again, he's ill and he wants archie to remember and honor him when he's gone the way he remembers and lionizes fred (he knows this isn't possible and that makes him resentful and apt to grasp at another form of intimacy that wasn't available to fred). he's feeling aggression towards his daughter, who is leaving him (by going to college) as much as he might be leaving her (by dying of a mysterious illness). it's a big complicated sick emotional motivations stew and both archie and hiram are looking at getting left behind to cook in it while the rest of the core four move forward in life.

and it would be hot. archie and hiram in the gym "personal training" (gone sexual) with weird grief-hate-reconciliation-validation sex would be hot. archie and hiram doing vigilante violence and then making out in sketchy alleys would be hot. are you kidding me?

all of this would make archie even weirder about hiram's illness and tenser in discussions with veronica about what to do about hiram's illness, and i do think barcheating would still happen - it's escapism/avoidance from what's going on within varchie, it's escapism/avoidance from what's going on within hirarchie, and archie is primed to be impulsive. so we still get barcheating fallout but MORE.

does veronica find out archie hooked up with her dad when they all thought her dad was dying? maybe! maybe she feels more sorrow and guilt (irrationally, about being the conduit bringing hiram into archie's life in the first place) than personal betrayal. or maybe she does feel very betrayed and that's an additional factor in everything (especially archie choosing to run away to the military. sorry everyone i know i've disappointed you all deeply and am very fucked up. instead of talking it out i will simply Leave).

all of this fuck-nastyism of course would make hiram's reaction to the barcheating that much more intense and outsized. veronica was feeling her relationship with archie wane already but hiram was IN IT. he's getting well, he's fighting again, he's offered archie a job, archie is about to be his main special interest while veronica and hermione drift and archie would CHEAT on him?? he's only supposed to be cheating WITH him!!!!

and then we segue into season 5 post-timejump when the riveradults are all kind of weird with each other but moving through it, and hiram has been behaving like a jilted ex throwing a temper tantrum for 7 years. and he will certainly continue.

*i think everyone notices but the dickinson crew is mostly named in reference to the gang of thieves who adopts and trains oliver - the artful dodger, fagan, bill. intertextuality, yippee!

[duckduckhjonk]

I just finished watching the new tpot episode and ouhhggggghhhhhh I have thinks and thoughts

Massive spoilers ahead, this is kinda a full episode review atp, I ramble a lot

First off I really liked One's area, it's super pretty and mystical but somehow feels sinister in a way? Like it's a little too dark to be fully whimsical and fun and mystical without a sinister hint to it.

This kinda also pulls towards my thoughts on One themself. I think they're pulling a cutesy coverup to something evil. I do not trust this number at all. And I pray this doesn't lead to her getting all these contestants eliminated because I am personally biased and will cry the day Fanny gets the boot.

Similarly, I'm really glad to have this storyline start going off. I really wonder what One wants from these characters. Are they as sinister as I am suspecting? I feel like One is moreso a Deal with the Devil type character and I don't think they're actually good friends with Two. I think that's a lie.

The characters themselves that are chosen are also really interesting picks. Fanny, Ice Cube, Basketball, Bell, and Bomby. It's kind of "what do these characters have in common?" I suppose it's they all needed something? Not entirely sure on that though, I mean yeah they probably do. A mouth, legs, help with Robot Flower maybe? An escape from being eliminated? It gets harder with those three to decide what they could get from One to be a part of their scheme.

At least I'll get to hopefully see more Bomby despite his elimination :3

Moving on, I really like the new teams. I think again Death PACT Yet Again is gonna be my favourite but the other teams are super fun as well. Truly devastating news that Golf Ball and Tennis Ball got separated. I fear neither have long left because of this. But on the off chance they do last, I'd like to see how they develop apart.

The challenge felt a little uninteresting but I think it was much more of a catalyst for figuring out team dynamics rather than be a focal point. Still pretty decent and a good finish to it. I personally love that Robot Flower ended up with Death PACT Yet Again.

Also really looking forward to one of the original exitors joining! I feel some of them were vastly underutilised in previous seasons and some got the boot just before getting interesting, pretty namely Dora and Liy come to mind. I voted for Dora because I'd like to see where she's going and what she'd do on TPOT. I think another interesting option would be Match. As much as I dislike her, I think she also has a lot of potential. Maybe a respark in her rivalry with Fanny, I think it would be interesting despite Bubble not being there. Maybe she would also serve as some motivation for Book to try and become better friends with Ice Cube before Match regains her trust.

Speaking of Bubble, I think I'd like to know what the BFB characters are doing. I don't think I'd like them to join the cast/show fully but maybe a check in? We already got Tear Drop in TPOT so none of them could join the show, but it would be interesting to see how they are.

I think in the future as far as theories I have go, I think One is going after either Golf Ball or Tennis Ball next. They're apart and need something and make pretty good targets. Although if it's a 1 per team deal I would also think Donut would be a good choice. He does have his arms missing but also I think he's been the most misused imo. He had a lot of potential on the pre split that I think wasn't utilised, especially with having Four's powers. I think this could be just what he needs.

As for further theories with One, I think they're definitely the weakest of the Algebraliens. Maybe their motivation is having all of these chosen champions and their "favour" is them giving One Twos power at the end of it. That's what I have so far, I mean I haven't seen enough to know 100% and I don't think that would be the case but that's my best theory.

Thanks for listening to me ramble 👍 lmk what you think!

[megaderping]

I'm seeing a few more Akechi in Inaba/P4 fics popping up, and tbh, I'm all for it. I don't really feel like I have ownership of the idea with The Crow Cries at Midnight because it's just a loose premise that anyone can give their own creative spin on. I think the extensive canon divergence TCCAM is building to is fairly uniquely tied to the fic itself and the personal creative decisions I have made. The amount of breaking the plot of Persona 4 that's kinda just happened in the unreleased segments I'm writing kinda just were a domino effect, which is leading it in a direction that is very different from, say, Throw Away Your Mask's P4 section. We have some commonalities, like Akechi and Kanji friendship, but then some of our ideas are very different, and I think that's super cool! A fic like TAYM has a very different feeling because its Akechi a) remembers canon, b) went through a divergent version of P3, c) TAYM includes things like "Tsuyoshi," Akira in Inaba, and d) Akechi arriving in Inaba partway into Persona 4's plot rather than being there since before Yu's arrival. My fic gives Namatame and the Moel Gas Station Attendant a ton of time in the spotlight, whereas TAYM does a fantastic job giving Kanji's mother screentime in a way that is really fun and satisfying. Recently, a fic called If You Want Peace (Win it Yourself) popped up that has Chisato as Goro's aunt who takes him in after his mother's death, so Goro is actually a blood relative to Nanako and Chisato, which is very different from TCCAM where he has no blood relation and that lack of blood relation plays into a lot of his apprehension with his initial starting place in the Dojima household. And I just think that's neat. I read the first chapter and thought the creative choices were really cool and distinct from both TCCAM and TAYM's P4 segment, and I look forward to seeing how this story develops in contrast to both my story and TAYM. There are so many unique Joker and Akechi roleswap fics, multiple takes on Joker in Inaba. A trope or concept for an AU can be spun in so many unique ways, and I really like to compare and contrast and enjoy each of these stories for what they bring to the table.

[deltastra]

My Thoughts on Project Eden's Garden Chapter 1

Back in 2022, I was excited for the release of Project Eden's Garden prologue. And it didn't disappoint. Sadly I was too lazy to make a post at the time, haha. So here's a list of how much I liked the characters back when the prologue released:

^ For the record, just because I "dislike" the character, doesn't mean they're badly written. It's just a personal preference and it didn't change the way I viewed the story whatsoever. A disliked or hated character doesn't mean a bad character.

Anyway, 2 years later, chapter 1 has finally been released. It took me a few days but I finally finished it and I must say, I absolute loved it.

This post will be about my overall thoughts on what transpired in the chapter, my thoughts on the characters, and the story as a whole.

SUPER LONG POST INCOMING

SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 1 BELOW

We start off with a reminder of how much Damon fumbled 2 years ago lol. To be honest, I LOVED Damon for that rant at the end of the prologue. Was he mean? Yes. But it was so refreshing to see an asshole protag. I look forward to see how he develops.

After we see his room and check our surroundings. We were told by Cassidy to meet everyone in the dining hall. On our way there we can talk to Diana and I swear I love the conversations those two have. It's so much fun seeing someone has cheerful and kind as Diana deal with someone who is cold and logical as Damon.

Eventually we learn about the pharmacy and were even given a new update in our tozu tablets where we can learn more about eachother. Eva immediately told us to stop looking at them because it exposes our weaknesses and that's what Tozu was planning. I believed her right away because my impression of her during the prologue was that she'd be our 'Kirigiri', basically the cool-headed smart partner. I would've trusted her.

NOPE. TURNS OUT, THE ULTIMATE LIAR LIED ABOUT HER TALENT.

This was when I started seeing Eva for more than a 'Kirigiri' character. There was nothing wrong about her in the prologue, but she never clicked with me back then because everything about her felt 'on the nose'. I mean come on, "Ultimate Liar"???? That sounds so strange, but I liked the game so I didn't mind too much. With the reveal that she was actually a mathlete, I began opening up to her character more.

Like I genuinely started feeling for her character when everyone started making fun of her. You could feel the personality she built in the prologue shatter. And the more we learnt about her and why she lied about her talent, the more I began liking her and even relating to her a bit.

Anyway, we got freetime events and my first instinct was to run to Diana. I love her conversations with Damon and think they bounce off eachother well, even better than with Eva. I was excited to see more of that. And I'm glad I did.

I love how her free time event is just her teaching Damon to not be a jerk. Like, "Don't glare" for example. She also gives him praise where praise is due, such as him reaching out to her.

She is so good at talking to him that it's kind of adorable. I was interested in seeing if she can actually help Damon open up but that would also mean she would be most likely to die and I really didn't want that to happen so soon. Either way, she will definitely be my focus for FTE.

I wanted to talk to Grace and know more about her but it wasn't letting me because she locked herself in her room.

So I went to Eva instead. She was alone downstairs avoiding everyone and talking to her made me so sad. I understood her talent more and why she hid it.

Afterward we went for our private one-on-one with Tozu, forgot to mention but I find Damon to be very smart but also very stupid. Smart that he found a way to contact Tozu and discuss the blackmail he got of Wolfgang, but dumb in a sense that he is already under suspicion by everyone. If they found out he did this, everyone would suspect him more.

I love Tozu as a host and "mascot". He is so eccentric but also pretty scary when he needs to be. Like when he said "Go on. Leave first." at the end of their conversation. But to be honest, I felt as though this conversation was kind of useless...

Afterward we see that Grace and Wofgang are living together now because they switched roomies. Damon was too scared to sleep alone so he went to Kai's dorm. I was excited because I didn't really like Kai in the prologue, this was a chance to see him in a full chapter which can properly showcase his character to me. After that scene, I started liking Kai a little more but I was also suspicious of him because since Damon came late, Kai could tell the others and it would be terrible. Kai seems to have a habit of throwing Damon under the bus lol.

(Took me a while to combine those two screenshots to get the full image lol)

Afterwards, there was a cute scene with everyone doing laundry and it was nice seeing a more relaxed atmosphere. Damon and Kai chilling together, Ingrid singing (she has such a nice voice omg), and Grace yelling at Wolfgang because he doesn't know how to use a washing machine. Overall, a very wholesome scene.

We meet Eva and learn she has Desmond's blackmail. At first, I fully trusted her and why she told Damon. Desmond is a marksman, he has weapons. Meeting him personally to tell him something private abt him that he doesn't want people to know seems scary. Hence why I was so against Wolfgang's idea.

Eva's conversation with Damon was one of my favourite scenes in the game. It felt nice she noticed Damon's fruitless effort during the trial and how no one thanked him. She noticed that they are the only two against Wolfgang. As they talked, I thought about how I don't know if I could enjoy this scene as much as I do right now if Eva kept her "Ultimate Liar" persona. At this point, I was an Eva fan 100%. I might talk about her more one day in a post, but we'll see.

I felt like Damon finally made a friend. Well, the closest thing to one in a killing game at least. Eva had all the qualities that Damon could work with. A decent amount of trust and no naivety. They both are constantly on-guard.

Her reasoning to why she chose to be a 'Liar' was kind of reasonable, I was surprised. On paper, it sounds ridiculous to call yourself that in a killing game. But when taking Eva's whole character into perspective, everything falls into place perfectly. As Damon puts it, everything she did felt self-destructive. Little did I know how true this will be later.

When we make it to the dining hall, Wolfgang questions us on why we were late. Damon counters him. I like to believe Damon's open-willingness to argue with Wolfgang in front of everyone now is mostly due to learning more about Eva and having a sense of camaraderie with her. He doesn't feel alone for once, in terms of thinking.

Cassidy wants to hold a gaming tournament. It's sweet and I started opening up to her character cause of it. Wolfgang is unsure of attending and Diana said she would be "busy". I was scared. Why would Diana be busy and HOW could she be busy. She's been acting strange. It was making me think that she will die or be the first killer. The way she acted around Damon was a bit too suspicious. I wanted to do her freetime event again but she wasn't available, which made me more worried.

I did Eva's instead to learn more about her, I'll save my thoughts about it for another time. But the general reaction I had was "Yup. Someone tell 2022 me that he will become an Eva fan"

Other than Diana, I really wanted to know more about Desmond. So, I did his FTE next! He's lowkey a chill guy. I really hope he'll be our "bro" character but I feel like the signs are leaning towards Kai fulfilling that role. Unlike Wolfgang, Desmond's kindness doesn't feel calculated to me. He's just casual about everything. I liked how he claimed that Damon and him are similar and as to why he believes so, he even offered to debate with Damon. Overall, a neat conversation. I love Desmond in a sense that, he's just pleasant to be around. I hope to see more of his character shine in future chapters.

We meet Diana again and she seems to be back to normal, but the sinister music kicks in when she asks how we are. I was VERYYY concerned. I assumed someone had severe blackmail on her and thought she murdered someone. Before it felt sweet when she wanted to know more about Damon and Eva, but in this scenario, it was very suspicious. Tozu even said, "Tonight could be the night which changes your life forever." which implies that he saw someone get murdered.

After a funny scene with Damon and Kai sharing a bed. We wake up and head to the gaming tournament!

At the time, I was so happy to see Eva choosing to go to the tournament and even bonding with Cassidy over a niche game. I thought Eva no longer had to hide under a false talent in order to feel powerful. She could be herself. Man...

She goes on explaining that she used to eat lunch in the bathrooms which made me feel for her even more. Part of me disliked Damon for making a joke at her expense when she was being vulnerable, but I can't help but think that it is also his way of showing that he does not pity her and treats her like an equal (somewhat). Hell, Eva even laughed at the joke.

The tournament begins and I love how seriously Damon was taking it. I actually believe he was having fun. I love Damon because while he may be an ass, when he's focused on something, he gives it his all. This includes a silly gaming tournament too.

Then a blackout occured and I KNOW someone's getting killed. So time to lock in. And man...let's just say I am GLAD I never got spoiled because...

MY JAW DROPPED.

A million thoughts flowed through my brain. Was this a fake-out? Was this death merely shock factor? He was meant to be the rival and main obstacle to Damon and Eva, HOW?

I was looking forward to seeing trials with Damon and Wolfgang going head-to-head.

I was both shocked and worried about where the writing will go. Wolfgang had so much potential in the story.

But I also thought "let them cook". With the main guy who encouraged everyone that no one would resort to violence was killed. Ultimately, his death disproved everything he believed in. His death WILL kickstart the killing game for sure.

My prediction was that it was Diana who killed him.

I really hoped it wasn't Diana but she was too suspicious.

As we investigated, we had to convince Grace to let us in Wolfgang's room. Honestly this was when I started to actually dislike Grace because why on earth did she think this was a good idea. I guess she had a connection to Wolfgang, but it was still irritating how much she hindered the investigation. This situation did let me see more of Eloise and man, she can be pretty scary. I heard her FTE is no different, I should look it up sometime.

Then, we had around 20 minutes remaining for the investigation, so we had to rush. Even though there was no time limit for the player, I could still feel the tension. I desperately wanted to know Diana's testimony. She feels completely different, like all the light in her eyes is gone and for good reason. Just like the others, she looked up to Wolfgang and believed no one would kill eachother. I love how you can feel the stakes rising. This isn't like the prologue. Your life is on the line and there is no time to grieve. And with Damon and Eva leading the investigation, two people who struggle with emotions and were outcasted by Wolfgang, it gets harder.

This scene is kind of why I like Diana, some may find this type of behaviour annoying and naive, but to me it showcases how much she's willing to believe in people as opposed to Damon. It hurts that Diana is STILL trying to see the good in people. But without Wolfgang, no one wants to play nice or believe in eachother anymore. Hence Grace's declaration of anger towards the killer enjoying their death penalty and Mark's agreement. Although I was also thinking how much this scene would hurt if Diana was the killer.

You know it's funny. Back when I was younger and a huge DGR fan, i would watch the class trials and think, wow the MC and partner carries these. Damon kind of reflects that. He believes in his own talent THAT much and he has seen how the students participate in the trials. Damon isn't necessarily right about how he is the only one who can carry this trial, but he is right that without him, its very hard to believe that the class can solve the murder of Wolfgang.

I love Damon's internal monolgues because it shows the type of person he is. He can be bitter and arrogant, but he is not heartless.

Either way, the trial begins and Grace is IMMEDIATELY questioned by Eloise for good reason.

I liked Grace in the prologue because she's a very outspoken person who takes no nonsense. But throughout this trial, I was getting irritated with her attitude. I hope her character actually goes somewhere in later chapters because if it stays like this, I doubt I will like her as much as I did in the prologue.

We eventually reach the part where Cassidy asked the person with Wolfgang's blackmail to speak up and explain themselves if they're innocent and DAMON WAS SWEATING BULLETS. However, Eva had our backs and explained why that information would not be useful. I can see why Damon stayed silent, if someone like him spoke up, who knows how everyone will react. ESPECIALLY Grace.

Also an interesting thing I've noticed is that everyone seems to be genuinely helping and contributing to the class trial. No one is just needlessly making quips. Cassidy makes jokes time to time, but she still helps.

Then when the suspicion hit Diana, I WAS SCARED. I was genuinely believing that she was the one who killed Wolfgang. But...how? She doesn't seem like someone who can kill and I doubt the writers would make her suddenly evil. So I assumed she killed out of self-defence.

What I loved a lot as a Damon and Diana fan was how Damon was starting to feel sympathy towards Diana. DAMON of all people. I wish I remembered how to use Pathos bullets so I could see Damon speak from a more emotional perspective, it feels more fitting for his development in my opinion.

We learn that the reason why she was crying with guilt was not because she killed Wolfgang, it was because she watched him die and couldn't do anything.

I'm skimming through the events of the trial as this post is getting long.

With Diana's suspicion cleared, I had no idea who would kill Wolfgang at this point. I started assuming Wenona did it or maybe Ulysses. However, looking back at it, it seems Eva still suspected Diana. I was too blind to see why would she even after Damon cleared it up.

As the trial progressed and we learn that the suspect could be anyone in the tournament. I was trying to hard to think who it could possibly be. Everyone had the realistic reaction of freaking out and yelling their alibis. I thought so hard. Who could it be? Who's position can Damon not remember? And then it hit, and I still doubted myself...

Eva. Of course, she started defending herself. As she started claiming that Damon was saying nonsense and that he's the killer, I could feel the friendship between these two die. I wonder if there was truly any sense of friendship between them to begin with. I believe that Damon genuinely thought there was whether he would admit it or not.

I was worried that just like with Wolfgang, Eva being the killer so early seems like wasted potential. But no, its perfect. Because of her character throughout the chapter and what we learn about her. I'll save it for a future post. I want to talk about Eva more.

As Eva claimed that she only pretended to be friends with Damon, his internal monologue was heartbreaking. Eva's words SHOULDN'T matter to him. He's close to solving the murder. But sadly, they do affect him. He judged others for being too trusting, while he blindly followed Eva's words.

As Damon gave his speech about how he did respect Wolfgang and how he doesn't want to see bloodshed, Kai vouched for him which I LOVE. It shot Kai up on my list cause of that. I was afraid he would be the guy to always point fingers at Damon, but thankfully it wasn't the case.

Eva broke down and we see her true nature. And to no one's surprise, all of this could've been avoided if people didn't give her too much shit for being a mathlete. Of course it isn't that simple since Eva had issues before that. But I genuinely believe that Wolfgang shouldn't have put too much suspicion on Eva and Damon and make them outcasts, it came back to bite him as Eva was obsessed with proving herself.

Seeing her cry after her defeat was hard to watch. The character I thought would be the "Kirigiri" of this game is now standing here, sobbing, and about to be executed.

Her rant about Wolfgang and how they blindly followed him is something I somewhat agree with.

I agree with Diana as well and it solidied my love for Eva and Diana's character. Diana genuinely tried to keep her part of the group. SHE TRIED. Wolfgang was okay with just throwing them to the side. That's where I think Diana is better than Wolfgang. But Eva was too wrapped up in her hatred that she couldn't see that someone was genuinely helping her. A mindset that is understandable for someone who has been bullied and outcasted for all their life. This was out of Diana's control.

But Eva isn't wrong either. Could she really trust Diana's intentions? No, not when Diana would also believe Wolfgang's word, the same word of the man who treats her like an outcast.

We learn about the traitor's perk. And I know people say Tozu threatened her to take it, but I feel like saying that she was treatened and thats why she killed Wolfgang kind of goes against all that we were shown? We didn't properly learn of the traitor's perk and its consequences until AFTER her rant about everyone in the class and her life. The traitor perk's consequences seemed more of an after-thought to her. Eva is very complex and I love that.

As she pointed out their hypocrisy, Grace yelled at Tozu to get on with the execution. I know she's upset and I understand that. But I would be lying if I said she didn't fall down my list immensely after saying that. Tozu announces the execution and Eva cries. Her execution was..intense. I wanna go into it deeper one day but to keep it short for now, I love how the execution wasn't just themed after her talent. The execution felt like an insult towards her story as a whole. She will always be a mathlete. Now with both Wolfgang and Eva dead, the killing games will finally begin. There is no one to guide them. Unless..

I know this scene is cringe to some people, but this made me love Diana and feel confident regarding what they'll do with her character going forward. She will follow Wolfgang's footsteps, and who knows, maybe have a more 'healthy' version of leadership than Wolfgang's approach. She genuinely believes in everyone, even Eva. I love that. I feel like her character losing hope as the game progresses seems off. This was a nice speech of hers but she should've picked a better time. Because unfortunately, no one took her speech seriously.

Except for one.

At this point, it seems obvious that Diana act as Damon's foil for the upcoming trials. Damon, who relies on logic. Diana, who relies on emotion. I'm cautiously optimistic because I thought it would be Wolfgang when I finished the prologue but I was dead wrong. I cannot wait to see how both of these characters develop their rivalry throughout the trials.

-------

And thats a wrap! This post took me like 3 weeks to write cuz I've been busy lol.

This chapter was so good and I was at the edge of my seat! I'm so happy I never got spoiled!

It's amazing how in just one chapter, Eva became my absolute favourite. It feels like just yesterday I was sold on everyone's character in the prologue except for her. I thought she'd be the know-it-all, cool-headed partner. But the reveal of her true talent was a nice surprise! And her whole character was well-written and complex.

With how well the motive for murder was written in this chapter, I really hope the later chapters don't get too crazy. Like no 'despair disease' type of motive please. I hope the kills don't get too unrealistic as well, keeping them grounded helps maintain the atmosphere for this story in my opinion. As for the executions, I'd be amazed if they centered around the characters' journey instead of just their talent, like with Eva for example. It played on her insecurities.

Finally, it seems the main theme for this chapter was 'hypocrisy' as the title of the chapter suggests.

Damon, who thought everyone was naive for trusting eachother and especially Wolfgang, blindly trusted Eva.

Wolfgang, who believed no one would kill and that everyone should stick together, outcasted Damon and Eva and urged everyone to keep an eye on them just because of some rude remarks they made.

Eva, who claims no one cared for her and hates her, screwed over Damon and Diana who did care about her and had multiple opportunties to befriend people like Cassidy in the gaming tournament.

I'm sure theres more that I'm missing but this is all I got for now. Here is my updated tier list after Chapter 1:

Overall, fantastic chapter. I'm so excited for the next!!! Keep cooking Eden's Garden team! You're all doing great!!!! anyway sorry for the long yap session